Brief surges or spikes in call volumes in a VoIP network can often produce cascading events that lead to serious service disruptions that may not occur instantly with the overload condition. For example, an unusual, rapid increase in call volumes may be caused by a one-time event that is quickly over but gradually produces service deteriorations due to increases in queue size and limitations in capacity in a subset of network elements. It is sometimes difficult for network operators to detect the root cause of cascading network problems produced by surges since they often do not occur in parallel with the traffic spike.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus for monitoring the potential impact of traffic surges in packet switched networks, e.g., Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) networks.